🧑‍🤝‍🧑 / 🏡 "Floating steps" installed in a back yard (on a big down slope.) Easy construction and it's a job well done.

I don't have the elevation difference he's dealing with. On the E side of the house (deck side) I've done the same...just for different sitting areas, an area for the grill, etc. I'm at five levels.

If we want to be realistic this can be done with a hand saw, a square, a tape measure, level, hammer and nails, right? Oh, and a shovel. But, do you agree? Relatively easy project: just some sweat...

 

[Krimson]

Lots of sweat and time if no backhoe, excavator, etc at that location.

 

[TerryP]

Lots of sweat and time if no backhoe, excavator, etc at that location.

Maybe I should have mentioned that ...

I thought about that. I have a friend who works for Sunbelt. He said he could get a backhoe at around $30 or so at his cost: weekends. I figured a day...four day project start to finish.

Dig.
Frame
Planks, etc. (easy day)
Stain/finish.

 

[Krimson]

Maybe I should have mentioned that ...

I thought about that. I have a friend who works for Sunbelt. He said he could get a backhoe at around $30 or so at his cost: weekends. I figured a day...four day project start to finish.

Dig.
Frame
Planks, etc. (easy day)
Stain/finish.

That's dirt cheap. Takes a bit to get decent at using it if you've never done it, takes a good while for most to get really good.

 

[TerryP]

That's dirt cheap. Takes a bit to get decent at using it if you've never done it, takes a good while for most to get really good.

Employee/management discount. I'm sure it isn't "all above board." He cut us a hell of a deal on a lift a couple of years ago on a roofing project.
I've never operated any heavy machinery past a huge zero turn mower...or a big aerator that was a "ride behind." I don't think a tractor qualifies.

This is just another example of why I love shows like This Old House, or watch channels like HGTV. I LOVE seeing home projects like this one. Hell, one of my biggest weaknesses is volunteering to help people do things like this...just to watch and learn.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

He starts the video after having sunk four to six 4x6 posts for each level (essentially nine tiny decks) and put in the joists/band. That's the majority of the work.

 

[TerryP]

He starts the video after having sunk four to six 4x6 posts for each level (essentially nine tiny decks) and put in the joists/band. That's the majority of the work.

That's how he's preventing sliding/holding them in place. Looks like 4x4's to me: not that it matters that much when digging the hole. I doubt they sank that deeply.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

That's how he's preventing sliding/holding them in place. Looks like 4x4's to me: not that it matters that much when digging the hole. I doubt they sank that deeply.

No, that's the typical post setup for a deck. Hard to tell how firm the soil is. All I'm saying is that 80 percent of the work was done before he started filming.

 

[TerryP]

No, that's the typical post setup for a deck. Hard to tell how firm the soil is. All I'm saying is that 80 percent of the work was done before he started filming.

We're not seeing the same thing. I see three 4X4's on that bottom level, all three on the left—two on the bottom and one on the top. How is that "typical post setup?" You've lost me here, Tim.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

We're not seeing the same thing. I see three 4X4's on that bottom level, all three on the left—two on the bottom and one on the top. How is that "typical post setup?" You've lost me here, Tim.

You're right, they're 4x4's or a metric equivalent. None of this is keeping anything from sliding down the hill, you build for vertical support. Again, these are just a series of tiny decks. Using the top level as an example, he's got six posts holding that level up, with a band and joists, with the joists spaced tightly at each end to support his decking pattern. On the next level down, he's got three posts on the left or step edge, and it appears that he nailed the band on the second level to the three posts he's stepping to with his right foot.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

The only place he couldn't crutch to the uphill posts was the final level, because it's so much wider he needed further support on the left corner.

 

[TerryP]

None of this is keeping anything from sliding down the hill, you build for vertical support.

Ah, you misunderstood what I was saying. Or, it was just me writing ...

that bottom level ... I was talking movement horizontally ... not that big of an observation, just looking at the picture and mentally comparing it to a sloped area where my deck is on the east side. I'll have to grab my phone the next time I go out.